Back at Daimon Shuzo

The week is off to a great start here at Daimon-shuzo. After a long bus ride, I arrived late Monday afternoon, and was kindly greeted by Daimon-san after walking through the brewery’s beautiful front garden. We chatted for an hour and were then joined by Brock Bennett, who is working for Nogne-o brewery in Norway as a sake brewer and had come to Daimon shuzo for some additional training.

The next morning we got straight down business by washing the rice for the next fermtation (soe), the next yeast starter culture (moto), and the rice to be used for making koji for the tome part of the next fermentation.

My Japanese is now much better after working in a sake brewery for one season, so I was able to talk to Uei-san (Daimon-san’s right-hand man) in much more detail about the various aspects of brewing than I could when I was here last. In the photo below, you can see us talking about the moto (yeast starter) that was going to be used the next day to start the main fermentation. I know it is going to be a great week here at the brewery, as everyone is eager to share their knowledge about sake. I will try and impart some of that knowledge here- stay tuned!